![canühome at The Green Living Show 2008 in Toronto.
Impressively standing out in a crowd of over 400 green exhibitors, canühome was definitely one of the visual and conceptual highlights for me at the Green Living Show in Toronto. Designed by a progressive Toronto think tank called the Institute without Boundaries, canühome is essentially a kit-based system that lets you affordably create a sustainable, universally designed, smart and healthy home for yourself.
In 2006, the folks at IwB adapted housing designs that had been created by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation for non-profit and affordable housing groups. The partnership between the two continued as IwB incorporated CMHC’s research into their World House Project in Costa Rica. Before long, the IwB brought together an eco-passionate team to create canühome, which they describe as an “exemplary home environment that re-imagines how we may live in the future.”
canühome is constructed using Forest Stewardship Council [FSC] certified wood products and meets LEED standards. The 850 square foot home contains a kitchen, bathroom, living room, dining room and bedroom and is intended for young couples, seniors, singles and/or small families as either a “starter” or “finisher” house. It has cleverly been designed to fit into the rear gardens of homes in the city or suburbs, on the rooftops of buildings or even out in the countryside, where amenities may not be readily available. Looking for something larger? canühome is modular, so you can add a whole other unit to one end of it to double its length [see pix below].
I really enjoyed walking through this popular exhibit and taking in all of the intelligent design choices and features. I was quite impressed to see that their responsible design had included an uninterrupted floorplan, thus providing universal access. Also included were transformable furnishings that could adapt to meet the changing needs of the home’s occupants over time. In addition to the FSC-certified wood used throughout, canühome’s creators utilized non-toxic materials to promote good health.
The use of solar, wind and vibration energy collection elevates canühome’s eco.status even more by further reducing its environmental impact. To top it all off, they’ve equipped this eye-catching space with “an intelligent network of sensors, tuned to give the homeowner a better understanding of the relationship between their lifestyle and their carbon imprint.” So it educates you while you live in it? Is there anything this smart home can’t do?
I was seriously impressed. The temporary tattoos they were giving out with green symbols that read “Using Less, Enjoying More” were a fun touch, too.
If you missed canühome at The Green Living Show, you can catch this cool mobile exhibit in Toronto again at Yorkdale in June and at IIDEX/NeoCon Canada in September. If you’re a floorplan junkie, you’ll love the detailed tech drawings of the space here here. A full colour brochure can be accessed here. Toronto Architect Lloyd Alter was also at the show and reviewed canühome in his Treehugger article, with a focus on the engineering and CNC technology used to build the structure.
An exterior view of the canühome exhibit at the Direct Energy Centre in Toronto, where The Green Living Show took place.
An interior view, while standing in the living room and looking towards the kitchen, bathroom and the bedroom at the other far end.
An interior view of the kitchen and dining area, a workspace on the left and the living room with eco.friendly fireplace at the far end.
A view of the entrance, complete with miniature garden.
A view into the kitchen and dining area from the entrance. The rounded wall on the right conceals the shower/bathroom and laundry room areas.
A close up of the sleek and modern kitchen, featuring FSC-certified wood, energy-saving appliances and eco.friendly countertops.
I love the fact that IwB designed a universally accessible kitchen, which included moveable cabinets and adjustable countertops and trolleys for recycling and cutting. The accessible appliances were also equipped with wide grip handles and lever taps.
Premisys provided the kitchen and cabinets, which were made using locally harvested FSC-certified Maple plywood and urea-formaldehyde free, low VOC finishes.
The eye-catching countertops were CaesarStone by Ciot, a product that is made from 93% crushed quartz and is non-toxic and hygienic, meeting Environmental Standard Certification.
The refrigerator and wall oven with convection microwave combo were Energy Star qualified and were provided by Bosch. The smart kitchen boasted an induction cooktop, which saves 30% energy and heats up two times faster than conventional ceramic cooktops. They also included an energy saving dishwasher and a built-in gourmet coffee machine which blended in seamlessly into the cabinetry. All of these appliances were by Bosch.
Of course, a green kitchen wouldn’t be complete without low flow taps [7.6 L/min]. Cabano Bath provided these for both the kitchen and bathroom [including a low flow shower].
The final touches were the accessories and eco.friendly bamboo cutlery and cutting board, which are all available at The Bay’s Home Outfitters.
Another kitchen view.
A side profile view of the bedroom, with the circular shower/bathroom stand in the background.
I love this image, partly because I have a thing for water tanks… but mostly because I love the idea of utilizing wasted space on rooftops in an eco.friendly way.
An image depicting what various canühomes would look like, set up and illuminated in the suburbs.
A drawing illustrating canühome’s modular capabilities. Here we see two 850 square units attached to each other, maintaining one uninterrupted floorplan.
~
[photos from canühome web-site]](http://26.media.tumblr.com/JEVcJTTe68ytubsg4ISQBTR3_500.jpg)
canühome at The Green Living Show 2008 in Toronto.
Impressively standing out in a crowd of over 400 green exhibitors, canühome was definitely one of the visual and conceptual highlights for me at the Green Living Show in Toronto. Designed by a progressive Toronto think tank called the Institute without Boundaries, canühome is essentially a kit-based system that lets you affordably create a sustainable, universally designed, smart and healthy home for yourself.
In 2006, the folks at IwB adapted housing designs that had been created by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation for non-profit and affordable housing groups. The partnership between the two continued as IwB incorporated CMHC’s research into their World House Project in Costa Rica. Before long, the IwB brought together an eco-passionate team to create canühome, which they describe as an “exemplary home environment that re-imagines how we may live in the future.”
canühome is constructed using Forest Stewardship Council [FSC] certified wood products and meets LEED standards. The 850 square foot home contains a kitchen, bathroom, living room, dining room and bedroom and is intended for young couples, seniors, singles and/or small families as either a “starter” or “finisher” house. It has cleverly been designed to fit into the rear gardens of homes in the city or suburbs, on the rooftops of buildings or even out in the countryside, where amenities may not be readily available. Looking for something larger? canühome is modular, so you can add a whole other unit to one end of it to double its length [see pix below].
I really enjoyed walking through this popular exhibit and taking in all of the intelligent design choices and features. I was quite impressed to see that their responsible design had included an uninterrupted floorplan, thus providing universal access. Also included were transformable furnishings that could adapt to meet the changing needs of the home’s occupants over time. In addition to the FSC-certified wood used throughout, canühome’s creators utilized non-toxic materials to promote good health.
The use of solar, wind and vibration energy collection elevates canühome’s eco.status even more by further reducing its environmental impact. To top it all off, they’ve equipped this eye-catching space with “an intelligent network of sensors, tuned to give the homeowner a better understanding of the relationship between their lifestyle and their carbon imprint.” So it educates you while you live in it? Is there anything this smart home can’t do?
I was seriously impressed. The temporary tattoos they were giving out with green symbols that read “Using Less, Enjoying More” were a fun touch, too.
If you missed canühome at The Green Living Show, you can catch this cool mobile exhibit in Toronto again at Yorkdale in June and at IIDEX/NeoCon Canada in September. If you’re a floorplan junkie, you’ll love the detailed tech drawings of the space here here. A full colour brochure can be accessed here. Toronto Architect Lloyd Alter was also at the show and reviewed canühome in his Treehugger article, with a focus on the engineering and CNC technology used to build the structure.
An exterior view of the canühome exhibit at the Direct Energy Centre in Toronto, where The Green Living Show took place.
An interior view, while standing in the living room and looking towards the kitchen, bathroom and the bedroom at the other far end.
An interior view of the kitchen and dining area, a workspace on the left and the living room with eco.friendly fireplace at the far end.
A view of the entrance, complete with miniature garden.
A view into the kitchen and dining area from the entrance. The rounded wall on the right conceals the shower/bathroom and laundry room areas.
A close up of the sleek and modern kitchen, featuring FSC-certified wood, energy-saving appliances and eco.friendly countertops.
I love the fact that IwB designed a universally accessible kitchen, which included moveable cabinets and adjustable countertops and trolleys for recycling and cutting. The accessible appliances were also equipped with wide grip handles and lever taps.
Premisys provided the kitchen and cabinets, which were made using locally harvested FSC-certified Maple plywood and urea-formaldehyde free, low VOC finishes.
The eye-catching countertops were CaesarStone by Ciot, a product that is made from 93% crushed quartz and is non-toxic and hygienic, meeting Environmental Standard Certification.
The refrigerator and wall oven with convection microwave combo were Energy Star qualified and were provided by Bosch. The smart kitchen boasted an induction cooktop, which saves 30% energy and heats up two times faster than conventional ceramic cooktops. They also included an energy saving dishwasher and a built-in gourmet coffee machine which blended in seamlessly into the cabinetry. All of these appliances were by Bosch.
Of course, a green kitchen wouldn’t be complete without low flow taps [7.6 L/min]. Cabano Bath provided these for both the kitchen and bathroom [including a low flow shower].
The final touches were the accessories and eco.friendly bamboo cutlery and cutting board, which are all available at The Bay’s Home Outfitters.
Another kitchen view.
A side profile view of the bedroom, with the circular shower/bathroom stand in the background.
I love this image, partly because I have a thing for water tanks… but mostly because I love the idea of utilizing wasted space on rooftops in an eco.friendly way.
An image depicting what various canühomes would look like, set up and illuminated in the suburbs.
A drawing illustrating canühome’s modular capabilities. Here we see two 850 square units attached to each other, maintaining one uninterrupted floorplan.
~
[photos from canühome web-site]
Above photo of Quik House by Adam Kalkin
I just discovered the amazing prefab Kithaus units on Treehugger and I feel like a kid in a candy store. Well, more like a child in modular Lego Heaven. Imagine being able to quickly add on an extra guest room, a zen escape, a gardening shed, a yoga pod, a jamming space, an artist studio to your existing home? Or in a sustainable pinch, have it be your home?
My utter fascination with prefab homes, offices, emergency shelters [anything and everything prefab] and sustainable design, started during my years at Parsons School of Design. Living in NYC, I was surrounded by water tanks on the rooftops of every building that I peered at. I saw them from my apartment’s fire escape, from my school’s studio windows, from aboard the many flights returning to NYC after my holiday breaks. They were everywhere.
I had always loved the industrial aesthetic, the lofts of Soho, the art direction of Blade Runner and Brazil, the works of industrial landscape photographers such as Toronto’s Edward Burtynsky. So being intrigued by these water tanks seemed natural. This led to an urban exploration of silos, shipping containers, breaker panels [my Dad’s an Electrician; I had seen them my whole life] and a trip to the Andrée Putman-designed Hotel im Wasserturm in Cologne, Germany. This is a hotel/restaurant magnificently converted from a traditional brick water tower, once the tallest in Europe. As a new design student, I immersed myself in industrial exploration.
At school, I was inspired to somehow recycle and refurbish all of these industrial objects in my design projects, aiming to make them thought-provoking and feasible for everyday use in homes, hotels and restaurants. I didn’t realize at the time that I was embracing the ideas of “sustainable design” or the “reclaiming” of objects and materials, and surprisingly, of the many architect professors that I had, not one of them even mentioned the eco potential or green merits involved in these ideas.
That was in 2002. How far we [and eco media coverage] has come in a short 6 years, with Parsons’ parent New School University now doing an excellent job of actively promoting eco design and sustainable living via their fantastic Sustainability Committee. Furthermore, GreenDesignGirl.com is now proudly syndicated on the Parsons Sustainable Design Review site, which is another smart addition to the super green efforts of New School University and its impassioned students. It’s an exciting time at the New School these days and I’m sure that their profs would be raving about my converted shipping containers now! Well, maybe not raving…
During my research for one of the many projects that kept me awake for 3 days straight, I came across a German architectural company called Graft Lab Design. They blew my mind with their innovative work. They were the first design firm that I had seen take on freight-size shipping containers and modify them for interactive everyday use. In short, they were re-configuring shipping containers and completely refurbishing the inside of each unit with comfortable padded leather walls, bench seats, tables, sleek shelving units [including a wall-mounted bar], etc.
In a project for the office of Neue Sentimental Film in Santa Monica, California they created a sophisticated meeting space, within an existing office, using connected modified shipping containers! I thought I had found my design soulmates. Thanx to Graft Lab and my design school experiments, my love for prefab + sustainable design was born. First in the form of converted shipping containers [with which they’ve built entire housing communities in The Netherlands and beyond], and then on to all kinds of modern prefabricated units. I am pre.fab.fascinated [in case it isn’t clear by now.]
What are Graft Lab up to these days? More of the same eco design goodness that I would expect, but on a much bigger level, as part of Brad Pitt’s Make It Right Nola initiative in New Orleans.
So what was it that prompted this reminiscing of my junior experiments in sustainable design? Ahhh yes, the brilliant prefab Kithaus! My ultimate dream studio space. My future pre.fab.u.lous oasis. A green design girl can dream, can’t she?
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Pix below: Graft Lab’s design for the Santa Monica offices of Neue Sentimental Films, including photos of the converted shipping containers discussed above. Graft Lab worked with award-winning Production Designer/Art Director Jan-Peter Flack on this project, who has created videos for the likes of R.E.M., Janet Jackson and Madonna’s “Rain”.
The shipping containers used as a meeting space within the vast office.
Inside the shipping container meeting space.
Another view inside the shipping container.
The sleek coffee bar in a closed position. I wish I knew who designed it!
The opened wall-mounted coffee bar.
A dramatic central stair case in the main office area.
View of the individual, elevated office spaces.
View of the meeting spaces tucked under the elevated offices.
Just when you thought the space couldn’t be any cooler.
As an Interior Designer who has worked on various HGTV shows, I’m beyond thrilled to hear that after 10 years of giving away dream homes, HGTV is going green with this next one. It’s currently being built in South Carolina and I can’t wait to see what it looks like in the end. The above link will take you to a short video of the location. You’ll also find links on that page with updates, photos and articles on the eco.smart construction of the new HGTV Green Home.
I’m utterly fascinated by the e2 documentary series, produced by New York based kontent real.
China, From Red to Green? is a part of the design: e2 series, which is narrated by Brad Pitt [the magnificent voice of Morgan Freeman appears on their e2 energy series]. In this episode they explore the sustainable design principles that are being encouraged, taught and used in the Chinese construction industry.
It’s an eye-opening but positive look at what is being done to improve the ecological state of a country where 15 to 20 million rural dwellers are moving to the over populated cities each year. China will be building new housing for 400 million people in the next 12 years! If they’re not ecologically responsible about it, we’ll feel the effects around the globe [depletion of natural resources, pollution, etc.]
I love the production quality of these videos, from the sound to the editing to the high definition cinematography. They now have free web/podcasts available on their site and their video series is also available for purchase on DVD. They have travelled all over the world, so you’ll find many international cities amongst the 18 episodes — and they’re making more. I’ll be posting more videos from the e2 series in the weeks to come.
Natural Home Magazine surveyed their fave eco.friendly ‘hoods in the U.S. This is interesting… the fact that we even have a selection of green housing developments to choose 10 from is definite progress. If you should come across a similar list for Canada [which I know has its own wide array], please send it my way.
